Intersection Cameras Are There For Traffic, Not Tickets

The Road Guy

When a camera goes up at a busy intersection, drivers tend to fear the worst. Road Guy tries to calm the nerves of Hampton driver Patrick Powell, who recently sent this e-mail:

Dave,

I was hoping you could tell me about the camera mounted on a new traffic signal located at the intersection of Old Fox Hill Road and Fox Hill Road in Hampton. I don't think it has anything to do with running red lights, but who knows?

Don't worry, Patrick. Big Brother isn't watching.

These aren't the controversial cameras that take pictures of red-light runners. Local governments would like to set those up. But a conservative committee within the General Assembly keeps killing legislation to allow the cameras in Hampton Roads, citing concerns that they infringe on civil liberties.

The cameras at the Fox Hill Road intersection serve a different purpose: They sense changes in color when cars head toward an intersection. The cameras let the traffic signal know that traffic is waiting at a red light or that a green light should stay that way to let more traffic pass through.

It's an alternative to having traffic sensors embedded in the pavement. Road sensors have to be replaced or repaired every time that a street is repaved.

This is the first intersection in Hampton to get the traffic-sensor cameras, but drivers can see similar cameras on Route 17 in York County and on Route 60 in James City County.

WASTE NOT. Here's something to think about the next time you drive through the Interstate 64 construction zone in Hampton: VDOT is using about 9,000 truckloads of fly ash from Dominion Virginia Power's Chesapeake Energy Center as fill underneath the highway.

Fly ash is a waste product from burning coal for electricity. VDOT buys fly ash that would otherwise be dumped near the power plant and uses it as a sand substitute, reducing the amount of sand that needs to be mined and hauled from pits in Isle of Wight County.

Using fly ash costs about the same as sand and encourages recycling, VDOT says.

CLEAN SWEEP. Road Guy thanks the more than 1,500 volunteers who cleared litter from local roadsides this past weekend.

They collected more than 5,000 trash bags -- or more than 40 tons -- of junk, including love letters and a Model T Ford bumper in Gloucester. It was all part of the Great American Cleanup campaign. For more information, visit the Web site at www.hrclean.org

THIS JUST IN. Road Guy hears that the new traffic pattern on Big Bethel Road at Todds Lane is confusing drivers and causing afternoon backups heading south toward West Mercury Boulevard.

Hampton officials blocked one of the two through southbound lanes on Big Bethel at Todds Lane on Monday.

They're testing the new traffic pattern for 30 days to see whether it reduces aggressive driving in the neighborhood between Todds Lane and West Mercury.

Drivers should expect delays in this area and make sure to obey the pavement markings.